'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' is a show tune first introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949, a show based on a novel by Anita Loos. The song was written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin. Although the Carol Channing version was compelling, it was Marilyn Monroe with her sultry voice and seductive moves that put the sizzle in this song. A little known fact is that the Monroe version of this jazz classic is listed as the 12th most important film song of all time by the American Film Institute, and the Monroe's rendition of the song has been considered an iconic performance that has been copied by other entertainers ranging from Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and Anna Nicole Smith. The Madonna video 'Material Girl' is patterned after this song, and uses a similar set and costumes for her number and the male dancers. Marilyn Monroe is an iconic legend that is known for beauty, grace, fashion, and her bombshell looks and sexy roles. What she is not known for is singing, but with this song along with 'My Heart Belongs to Daddy' and 'Happy Birthday' as sung to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden earned her three smash hits.

In a 2007 BBC Documentary, Amy-Winehouse-revealed her agony relationship with Blake-Fielder-Civil, and was quoted as saying: "I fell bang in love with someone and it didn't do me any favors. When I split up with this fella, I didn't have anything to go back to. I wasn't working, so I was playing pool for four hours every day, getting drunk, having to be carried home in a wheelbarrow.So 'Back To Black' is about a black mood, I guess..He was the inspiration." Recently, Harry Fielder-Civil, Blake's brother said, They seemed hell-bent on destroying each other and didn’t care about dragging others down with them. It was like watching two speeding trains hurtle towards each other before a violent crash.” The heart, it seems, only knows what it wants, and Amy's heart wanted an out of work video assistant with a history of criminal behavior, heroin usage, and female abuse. In a move that wasn't the brightest thing she ever did, she married the bum, and not long afterward the pair were photographed bloodied and bruised in the streets of London after a fight. The divorced by mutual agreement, according to Amy's father, and he, in fact, was serving a 32 month jail stint for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm at the time of Amy's death. It is true, Amy Winehouse had been introduced to heroin by the love of her life who said they only smoked it, but in the end it was alcohol binge drinking that took her down. With her concert calendar empty and cancelled due to drunken and lewd behavior on stage, it appeared to her family she spent the last night of her life with a big bottle of vodka watching YouTube videos of her past performances. Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011 at age 27. She was an immense talent. After her death, her family established the 'Amy Winehouse Foundation' whose main goal is to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse by young people, and it to support, inform and inspire vulnerable and disadvantaged young people to reach their full potential.

Bob Dylan, aside from being a talented lyricist and musician, is the man who is credited with killing 'Tin Pan Alley' which was collection of music publishers, musicians and song writers who began operation in 1885, and dominated the music scene through the 60's when it was centered in the Brill Building under the direction of Phil Spector. Today, the only reminder it ever existed is a plaque on a Manhattan sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and 6th Streets. Bob Dylan stepped from obscurity, and recorded 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' in 1963 which a title track of 'Blowin' in the Wind', and every cut on the album was written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It shot to number one at release, and other musicians looked around wondering why they needed 'Tin Pan Alley' if a young man from Minnesota did not, but managed to make a number one album using his own talents. Within the year, every musician was writing their own lyrics and music, and 'Tin Pan Alley' faded into obscurity. Being the unconventional dissident he was and probably still is, you only have to read the first lyric of 'Blowin' in the Wind' to know its a protest song. Yes, it has a beautiful melody and haunting lyrics, but it questions the social and political norms of the day which would have been the 60's. He is merely asking, 'Why does it have to be this way, and what do we have to do to change it?' 'How many roads must a man walk down, before you can call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly, before they're forever banned? The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind.The answer is blowin' in the wind.'

Bob Seger has been around forever and a day, and I remember when I was in high school in Detroit someone glued a playbill with his picture on the cafeteria wall that may still be there to this day; however, the high school has gone out of business, and lies in dusty solitude. I don't know when this song was written, but from the below lyrics it would be my guess early in his career when he was lean and mean and swaggered around on the stage like he owned it with his long hair blowing around his face, or as a older less lean man remembering a more distant time. It seems it has to be one or the other, but it is definitely a singer on the road or one getting ready to go on the road and thinking its just not as much fun as it was on another day. 'Well you walk into a restaurant, Strung out from the road And you feel the eyes upon you, As you're shakin' off the cold You pretend it doesn't bother you, But you just want to explode Most times you can't hear 'em talk, Other times you can All the same old clichés, "Is that a woman or a man?" And you always seem outnumbered, You don't dare make a stand.'

'Solitaire' was written by Neil Sedaka so it's really a Neil Sedaka song covered by several different people with the best two covers being Elvis Presley and The Carpenters. When people talk about 'The Carpenters' they are really talking about Karen Carpenter (1950-1983), the voice behind the Carpenters. The other member of the duo was her brother Richard, Pianist, but the sound was strictly Karen. Sadly, Karen passed away from heat failure caused by an eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. She was just 32. Considering this song 'Solitaire' as written by Neil Sedaka, 'There was a man. A lonely man. Who lost his love. through his indifference.' It's next to impossible to tell if Sedaka was referring to himself, but he sure was talking about someone, and it wasn't Karen Carpenter the singer. This is one of those cautionary songs that on the surface sounds like a nice tune, but really is the story of a man consumed by something that kept him a loner, and sure enough, he ended up alone and lonely without ever having won the game he was playing. It's actually a very good song, and no one does it better than Karen Carpenter, although, Elvis Presley is a close second.

I know exactly what this song is about because I heard Barry Manilow tell the story of how he came to write this song many years ago on VH1. Barry Manilow was a New York City boy born and reared, however he was living and recording on the West Coast somewhere in the Los Angeles, California area. As he was working on the West Coast but his family was living on the East Coast he spent endless hours flying back and forth between the two points. After one trip where he left the West Coast and flew to the East Coast for a business meeting, he decided to fly back home in the same day which put him arriving at his Los Angeles home in the early morning hours of the new day before the sun rose. Somewhat jet lagged and unsure what to do with himself, he did what he had probably done many times before; took a pad and pencil down to the beach and sat down to watch the sun rise. As the sun was announcing her presence to the new day, he penned the words to this song, which has always been one of my favorites. You don't have to be a Barry Manilow lover to be awed at the genius of anyone who can sit down in the sand to watch the sun rise, and walk away with this masterpiece.

This song is actually about the 'City of New Orleans' passenger train that started service in 1850 as the premier line on the Illinois Central Railroad, and was absorbed by Canadian National Railroad in 1998. It still operates today on the same route it used in in 1850; Chicago, Illinois to New Orleans, Louisiana. The first stanza of the song makes it clear that what is being sung about is the train known as 'The City of New Orleans', and nothing else: 'Riding on the City of New Orleans, Illinois Central Monday morning rail. Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders, Three conductors and 25 sacks of mail. Good morning America, how are you? Say, don't you know me? I'm your native son.' The only deviation of service for the Illinois Central was during the Civil War, and 'The City of New Orleans' was put in storage and replaced with cargo trains that went as far as Cairo, Illinois and a Union Camp named 'Camp Defiance'. It mainly was used as a supply train to take Union Troops and goods to 'Camp Defiance', and carry freed slaves to northern States. After the Civil War, the tracks were repaired that the Confederate troops destroyed leading to New Orleans, and the 'City of New Orleans' was brought back to the rails and has been in service every since. The design of the train has changed over time and the ownership, but it's still the same old 'City of New Orleans' passenger service as operated by Illinois Central in 1850. Sadly, the train does not stop in Cairo any more, and the old Illinois Central depot was destroyed in Cairo. Recently, while doing road work at the site of that old IC Depot in Cairo. city workers discovered rooms under the sidewalk that had been used to house slaves until they could be put on the train and shipped north. 'The City of New Orleans' has an illustrious past, and shows no sign of leaving us any time soon.

I had been hearing this song for a good number of years hearing only a song I liked, but really never listening to the message. It's comes across as a simplistic song with easy lyrics and great guitar backing, but it's fairly deep if you tear it apart. It took a purple rain moment for me to grasp that concept. It was an age old story; a stormy fight with a loved one where mean words were tossed back and forth before I stormed away and drove off. I didn't go that far when this song came on the radio. I started listening to the words, and a light bulb went off in my brain. I hadn't meant any of those things, and was remorseful. I had to go get that person, and take them to that place where the purple rain falls and heals old wounds. Of course, there is no real purple rain, but there is a place and space for lying down the hurt and letting peace take over, and cleanse and rejuvenate you. If that place were tangible, it would indeed manifest itself as 'Purple Rain'. What this song really says is if you are battle weary and plain tired of the war, just walk away and go to that special place that makes the pain go away, and while you're at it, take that loved one with you.

The meaning behind this song is unimportant at this late date, because the artist who wrote it is no longer with us; however, it just might be about a person who keeps waking up alone in a place that is too big, too silent, and too white, and eventually realizes it of little significance to be at the top, if there is no one else there but for an echo. Every time I hear this song, and there are several versions, I think of vanilla, and how it represents the shades of loneliness, which just might be the reason this entertainer exited the stage leaving behind a big house full of empty rooms. But really, it might be as this entertainer once sang, 'Just My Imagination', and he might have been extremely happy with his house of many rooms and memories of past loves. Who really knows?